George Hellebore
| occupation = Student | affiliation = Eton College (formerly) | status = Active | role = | portrayed = | first_appearance = SilverFin (novel) | last_appearance = SilverFin (Graphic Novel) }}George Hellebore is a fictional Schoolyard Bully at Eton College, who first appeared in the premiere novel of the Young Bond prequels to the main James Bond series: 2005's SilverFin by Charlie Higson. History Early Life At the age of six, George's father divorced his mother and they moved to Scotland. As a child, George had loved his father's castle, but as he grew, the loneliness and his father's disregard for George's emotional needs left him feeling hollow. Lord Hellebore was so against women and the very idea of not being incredibly and expressly masculine that when describing a dream involving his mother, his father had caned him and screamed that they had no use for women. While living in Scotland, Randolph had George regularly take pills of his experimental "SilverFin" formula in an attempt to make his son stronger and faster, however, at one point George began to refuse to take them, as their side effects made him more aggressive and less intelligent. ''SilverFin'' After cementing himself as a force to be reckoned with in his first few years at Eton College, he responded to an uproar being caused by his friends, who were harassing new student James Bond and his friend Pritpal Nandra. Nandra and Hellebore's lackeys ran away for fear of being late to class, Hellebore stayed behind to further intimidate James before going on his way. George then made a regular habit of tormenting the boy whenever he could, however, one night, while his father, Lord Randolph Hellebore was at school to discuss the creation of the Hellebore Cup, a new trophy competition, Bond came across them talking with Headmaster Alington. His father, much to George's embarrassment, challenged Bond to an impromptu boxing match before leaving with George and the Headmaster. After discovering the powerful controlled breathing of schoolmate Leo Butcher during an attempt at suffocating him, Hellebore plotted a trick on Bond. After finding Bond swimming in the icy Thames, Hellebore forced his head underwater, and would not allow him to leave unless he would race Butcher in the water. George conveniently left out that it was to be an underwater race with no stopping for air until after James had accepted. When James inevitably lost to the equally victimized Butcher, Hellebore forced Bond's head back in the water, but before losing consciousness, Bond pulled George in. At that point, the old boatmaster nicknamed Croaker emerged to see what was going on. Bond lied, and claimed that George had just saved him from drowning. However, as George and his friends walked away, they threw James' Eton top hat into the river. After the competition began, George was met with immediate success in the shooting portion, making his father ecstatic, however when fellow competitor Andrew Carlton ties his score, his father grows manic and forces the reluctant George to take some SilverFin pills. Unfortunately, during the swimming portion, a joker in the stands sounded an airhorn, resulting in a mass false start. On the second try, George and another swimmer, received another false start by diving before the whistle. Due to his intense nerves at the prospect of losing, George is unfortunately disqualified on his third false start. Lord Randolph managed to keep him in the competition, accounting for the airhorn being out of George's control, and he starts with a ten second handicap instead of being disqualified. George could easily have won without the handicap, but he instead took third place. With his father pulling some strings, most of the race proctors were replaced with George's friends for the running portion, allowing for him to safely cheat. During a treacherous downhill portion, Hellebore left the trail while the other racers were busy with not tripping and injuring themselves, and took a shortcut to skip a considerable portion of the race. He maintained his massive lead for some time before Bond caught up to him. George then faked having a stitch in his side, allowing Bond a considerable lead before leaving the trail to cut him off. Growing winded, George was furious when he looked behind him to see that Bond was once again gaining on him. He attempted to trip Bond with his leg, but the boy jumped the blow and George instead tripped himself and fell off the track and into a bog. Covered in green mud, he finished the race in third. While James and Carlton were surrounded by friends, all of George's were on the course, and his father refused to look at him, even though he had tried his best. George's tears cut the grime on his face as he went to confront James. He could not have been caught up to unless he had cheated, but Bond, knowing full well that George had cheated, made that impossible. Two weeks later it was time for him to return to Scotland. He had not spoken to his father since the race, and he was dreading every second leading up to his arrival, and would have preferred if the train had never arrived. Unfortunately, George discovered that James was riding the same train, and he held the boy's head out of the train window before Red Kelly came and, George backed off. While attending a circus in town, George payed two young men to beat down Bond and Kelly, but they were unsuccessful. He later regretted this, as he had at first been happy to see a familiar face in the solidarity life with his father afforded him. While reflecting on his father and the time he had spent with him, George decided to write his mother. Life with Lord Hellebore, and his incessant pursuit of masculinity had grown grating, and his father's constant abuse lead George to break into his office to find his mother's address among the divorce papers, and wrote her about his daily struggles. While asleep one night, James Bond sneaked into the Hellebore castle, and Randolph's cruel aid MacSawney came to wake him. He was brought to the basement laboratory, where he reluctantly revealed that he had not been expecting James, nor was he his friend. James asked for his help, but George knew that there was nothing he could do. Instantly regretting his decision, George resolved that he had had enough of his father, and went to search for Bond's camp, when he found Wilder Lawless in a clearing. He was then immediately tackled from behind by Bond, who pinned him to the ground. George, began to cry and begged the boy to stop, and although he did not intend to let up, Wilder was the one with the gun, and thus made the decisions. They agreed to trust George, who wanted to help them destroy his father's work. He took James to his rowboat that he had taken across the lake, and paddled them to a back entrance to the laboratory. George went inside to disperse the scientists by telling them his father needed them. When the coast was clear, George led James into the vault where the SilverFin serum was kept, and George smashed the vials while James burned the paperwork. They proceeded to smash the eel tanks when MacSawney came in with a shotgun to stop them. George and James hid on top of the mutant pig cages, and George unleashed the beasts on him. The smoke began to cloud the room, and the boys released George's Algar Hellebore, who ran into the lake, before they threw chemicals from the flammables closet. When they emerged from the laboratory, Dr. Perseus Friend was in utter disbelief, and went into the fire to save his work. Amidst the chaos, the boys were able to escape without trouble, until George's father caught them outside. His father claimed that the SilverFin soldiers would be his sons as soon as one misstep, George, was taken care of. Just before he pulled the trigger, Algar leapt out of the water, and James hugged George's face into his chest to prevent him from seeing what happened next. George was forced to lie to the police, who would never have believed him, in order to spare James the consequences. George never returned to Eton, and instead moved to Boston to live with his mother. References Category:Male characters Category:Americans Category:Literary characters Category:SilverFin characters